My job ... I do nothing, it pays nothing, but - you guessed it - it's better than nothing.

Just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater.

We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey.

Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.

In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak.

if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.

I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if the shaking is still me.

I want to know everything about you, so I tell you everything about myself.

Fear attracts the darkness. When you have no fear, the darkness fears you.

The military state is the final form to which every planned economy tends rapidly.

Art is not a thing it is a way.

Let nothing be said about anyone unless it passes through the three sieves: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

I do force myself to sleep with myself to get the job. But that's always a disappointment.

A ready way to lose your friend is to lend him money. Another equally ready way to lose him is to refuse to lend him money. It is six of one and a half dozen of the other.

Whether histories have a happy ending or not depends on when the chronicler ends the tale.

Eventually my goal is get a place in Ojai where I can have animals and a big garden. Just drink wine all day and hang in my garden.

It is a pitiful fortune that is not without enemies.

Each species on our planet plays a role in the healthy functioning of natural ecosystems, on which humans depend.